Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

This from the Visor Village post:

"I have had my Visor Deluxe about 3 weeks. I ordered the 8 Mb flash module and received it 3 days ago. I have also ordered the backup module so that I can have an image of the Visor in the event of hard resets on the road. All that said, I thought certain springboard modules were a good idea. Now I'm not so sure. Using the springboard module dramaticaaly increases the drain on the batteries. Without using modules I still had 3/4 of the battery left according to the indicator after 3 weeks use. After using my flash module 2 times in one day the battery indicator is down to 1/4."

I know Innnogear is working on a battery unit to power its modules outside of the Visor, but if the person above presumably didn't leave his Springboard in the Visor, outside battery units may not cut it. It looks like Springboards may need to carry their own batteries.

Moreover, if the problem really is this serious, a color Visor may be farther off in the future than we anticipate, since color would only compound the battery drain challenge that Handspring already faces in engineering a color unit.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

I think the person who made the report was tricked by the initial backup operation. This is a pretty intense operation the first time, but not so thereafter. After that first backup, I've not noticed any significant change in battery consumption. As far as the 8MB Flash Module is concerned, I leave it in my Visor pretty much all the time, and don't see any affect on battery life.

Further compounding the confusion for the person reporting the discharge problem, he may not be familiar with battery discharge characteristics. Even with alkalines, the rate at which the battery discharges is very gradual from about 90% to 60% (if memory serves), and then very rapid after that point. Checkout the discharge characteristics that Eveready(?) prints on the back of their battery packages if you don't believe me.

Of course, there may be other explanations; but, in any event, his experiences are at odds with mine.

[This message has been edited by yucca (edited 03-08-2000).]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

yucca,

Whew! Thanks for the clarification.